HipStamp Service And Prices

I wasn't implying competing with the likes of Google, AdWords or that space. I was implying, more physical <-> virtual opportunities. Cross agreements with Linns's for example. It's a complex ecosystem, that should rally around it's strengths. Both could be vendor agnostic but provide synergies for each other. If hipstamp became the Wikipedia of stamps, I'd imagine free advertising can be had just via url recognition.

Heck, it should even free host all club sites, and bootstrap the entire ecosystem into a platform. See what I mean? For instance, why must a club have to be burdened with this, when it just wants to play with stamps.

I am not so sure that a lot of entities would want to be seen as implying endorsement of a retail site such as Hipstamp by virtue of their presence.

'Besides do you really need to see the back of some modern stamp before you buy it if the seller says NH?'

Yes, trust but verify. It's the backbone of a trustworthy transaction.

'I am not so sure that a lot of entities would want to be seen as implying endorsement of a retail site such as Hipstamp by virtue of their presence'

That's the losers mentality. Winners strategically can partner with enemies where strategic benefits outweigh sucking it up. Microsoft Azure is the prime example of embracing all players including competitors for the benefit of people just paying for their cloud services. Even if it means non-windows.
Now you see grocers backing out of Amazon cloud because of mistrusted alliances. It's a delicate balance, but I firmly believe there is one entitled to a victor.

If folks can't scan both sides of a stamp, then those listings should be filterable as "description incomplete"
and buyers should be able to omit them.

Do sellers not really care about the buyers anymore or the material?. The folks who put focus on customers first will ultimately win. You have a subpar stamp. You can charge what you want for it, but you have to disclose it's true condition. Transparency... That's it.

Sellers do not respect buyers that continually support them and keep their wallets open for them even though they are peddling misrepresentated material whether it be condition issues, alterations and so on because the ebay model that others are replicating is primarily "bargain" driven. We all know the story. It is discussed frequently on this forum. In summary a great many buyers really do not care so long as they feel that they "scored".

As far as the "losers mentality" thing I am not so sure. If a club or a publication hooks up with a retail site and some folks are buying stamps that may not be what they should be everyone associated with that site can start to be viewed as suspect. You have to be very cautious about whom you jump into bed with. You can be as pure as the driven snow but still have your reputation impugned. Once you hook up with someone it can become very uncomfortable when the heat is turned up on your host or partner or somebody you are trying to build a relationship with. Retail sites, forums etc. all face the same dilemma. Say for instance that you have a forum and ebay offers to be hook up with you but a lot of threads are exposing things that take place on ebay that are not very complimentary. It depends on how much attention your partner pays to your site and how financially dependent you are upon that relationship. I could see it becoming very stressful to the site. Perhaps I am overly cautious because it has served me well for the most part. I would think long and hard before I stamped my name on a retail site.

One service I think HS should pursue, to counter crappy material, is offering a option of certification with their APS dealers willing to participate. They could Have an add-on feature that gives a choice to have the stamp certified as sold without having to complete the app. The stamp is sent directly in by dealer at an agreed fixed group discounted price (say $30 for under $500 final sale price) for service. Customer gets stamp and cert 6 to 8 weeks later. If cert fails APS return policy applied. This would give buyers a lot of protection and comfort on purchases and help the hobby in general by added some professionalism to the material in circulation. Thoughts?

redtail,
In my opinion the APS has not demonstrated the IT vision or desire to partner with online company like HS. I assume that they will stay the course with their poor executed APS Store.

But I think that you are 100% correct in suggesting that the APS has significant value in its well vetted membership and mailing list.
Don

Don

I would suggest APS not need formally adopt this program, just dealers willing to honor the APS policy could execute this program/partnership w/ HS.